Netflix Plans To Kill The Cable Industry By Destroying The Concept Of 'Waiting'

Netflix has an ambitious plan to disrupt the cable industry, and it's guaranteed to make networks nervous.

"The traditional entertainment ecosystem is built on (managed dissatisfaction), and it's a totally artificial concept," Netflix CEO Reed Hastings tells GQ's Nancy Hass. "The point of managed dissatisfaction is waiting."

But Hasting says waiting for TV shows to air is dead. Within the next five years, Hastings figures that the idea of paying for a monthly cable bill will sound absurd. That's why the company is making an effort to give people content when they want, and wherever they want it.

On February 1, Netflix users will be able to stream the entire first season of House of Cards in a single sitting. This year, Netflix will also exclusively stream Hemlock Groove, Orange Is the New Black, Derek, Lilyhammer, and the highly anticipated season four of Arrested Development.

"This is the direction that storytelling is evolving, where you're going to have the most interesting story lines, the most interesting characters," actor and executive producer of House of Cards Kevin Spacey tells GQ. "What a company like Netflix is doing is the ultimate expression of individual control, proof of what people's attention span really is."

Some have argued that people will miss the shared experience of watching a TV show together, but Hastings tells GQ that once we move on from waiting for TV shows to air, we'll never look back.